Album of the Week

Kate Nash is one of those artists who puts out an amazing first album that you fall in love with, them takes her own direction with the second album and you don't like it at all. Second album aside, Made of Bricks is a flawless execution of tender British pop music. The music is the perfect disguise for the brash, real-life lyrics that depict the harsh situations life delivers. 

It'd take an act of congress for me to pick a favorite song from the album, but I suppose if someone held a gun to my head and told me to pick a favorite song, I'd go with "Mouthwash." It's a song that everyone can relate to. Well, at least us normal people who don't plaster our nude pictures all over Twitter. It's a celebration of being down-to-earth and couth. It's also the most catchy and fun song on the album.

"Foundations" is another one of my favorite songs. It sort of reminds me of a Regina Spektor tune, the way it's so upbeat and bright sounding, but the lyrics are somewhat depressing and hyper-realistic. "Then you'll call me a bitch and everyone we're with will be embarrassed and I won't give a shit." Anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows what it's like to not see eye-to-eye and how it's natural for us to go for the jugular when taking digs to evoke emotion. "You say I must eat so many lemons cause I am so bitter. I say I'd rather be with your friends mate, cause they are much fitter." She just consistently rhymes about situations that should be uncomfortable, but aren't because you know that at the end of the day everything will blow over. Pretty much the foundation of the realistic relationship. <--- See what I did there?

One of the more popular songs on the album, "Dickhead," is probably the most hard hitting. It's an extremely simple song in the beginning, filled with only single guitar strokes, snapping and foot-taps. I don't know who she's talking about in this song, but she's reading the for fucking filth. It's like an Adele song without all of the fancy-dressed up metaphors. She keeps it real through the whole song with lines like, "I wish that you were more intelligent so you could see that what you are doing is so shitty." I don't think this song has to be for a boyfriend/girlfriend per-say. You can feel like this about anyone. Sometimes my mom is a dickhead and I just want to be like, "You're just fucking up situations." I call those "Kate Nash Dickhead Moments." My favorite part, though, has to be how the song suddenly erupts into a beautiful string quartet. 

I could really go on for hours about this album. It's easily one of my all-time favorite albums. Not sure if Kate just lucked into a handful of amazing productions, but I really hope that what she gives us later this year is more like her first album than that trashy sophomore album. It's the perfect album for to get through a breakup with a cheery outlook, instead of listening to Duffy, which would make any sane person want to slit the wrist up to their neck. 

Definitely, 100% check this album out.

You can buy it on iTunes or Amazon ooorrrr if you're cool like me and have an Android, you can get it for pretty cheap in the Google Play Store.

1. Play
2. Foundations
3. Mouthwash
4. Dickhead
5. Birds
6. We Get On
7. Mariella
8. Shit Song
9. Pumpkin Soup
10. Skeleton Song
11. Nicest Thing
12. Merry Happy

13. A is for Asthma 

Awesome songs in red!